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Local News for Friday 21st June 2017

Biggest weekend of Lewis yearThe biggest weekend of the summer promises a town buzzing with activity and the sun shining down on events today and tomorrow, with the 22nd Hebridean Celtic Festival just the largest of a number of events hosting visitors. Two days of music, street theatre, fringe activities and performance are promised, with HebCelt bringing bands from Canada, Ireland and all across the UK to the stages of the main arena on the Castle Green. Headliners Imelda May and The Waterboys will be preceded by a parade of talent, including the home-grown variety, and there are community events in the town and further afield, Tarbert seeing island favourites Na h-Oganaich tonight.

Local News for Thursday 20th July 2017

HebCelt main arena shows beginThe main arena on Lews Castle Green opens its gates this evening on HebCelt 2017, with Lewis Pipe Band leading the crowds to the door, and island singer songwriter Eleanor Nicolson the first performer to take the stage. Eleanor will perform at 7pm on the Lewis Wind Power Islands Stage, just a day after her 4th EP was released. She’s followed by quality performances from Tide Lines, national icon Dougie Maclean and high octane Celtic dance band the Peatbog Faeries ending the night. Meanwhile at An Lanntair, the first island performance of Willie Campbell’s Gaelic album Dalma provides a treat for festival-goers. In Harris, the community performance by Canadian fiddlers The Lumber Jills has been moved to the Bays Community Centre following a bereavement at Seallam, where the band were scheduled to appear.

Local News for Wednesday 19th July 2017

HebCelt opens tonightThe opening concert of Hebridean Celtic Festival 2017 is this evening at 7.30pm, as three fiddlers from across Scotland’s island bring their unique collaboration to the stage at An Lanntair. Between Islands is the second phase of a project produced by An Lanntair, which began in 2015 with a collaboration between singer/songwriters from Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Now Lewis fiddler Jane Hepburn is joined by Shetland’s Maggie Adamson and Orkney’s Louise Bichan to explore the similarities and differences in island tunes, traditions and playing styles. Also tonight is the community concert at Breasclete with Tidelines, a concert that has been sold out for some weeks.

Local News for Tuesday 18th July 2017

Royal opening for Harris TweedThe new extension for Harris Tweed Hebrides is to be formally opened by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, on Friday July 28th. The Princess Royal is patron of the UK Fashion and Textiles Association and has been a regular visitor to the Western Isles since her childhood, when she came to the lighthouse at Tiumpanhead with her family, a visit which sparked a lifelong love of lighthouses. She’ll unveil a plaque at the major new extension to the Harris Tweed Hebrides production facility at Shawbost Mill, and will also tour the mill and speak to employees.

Local News for Monday 17th July 2017

Columbus on his travels againColumbus the celebrity cat from the Leverburgh pier feral colony has been on his travels once again, this time on a fishing trip to the Monach Isles. Columbus hit headlines last summer when he stowed away at Leverburgh on a visiting yacht and was put ashore at Oban, needing combined efforts from Argyll Animal Aid and island visitors to repatriate him to his Isle of Harris home. This time he joined the fishing vessel Valhalla and spent a few days with them off the shore of North Uist and the Monach Islands, returning with the crew when they landed back at Harris. He’s been described by locals as ‘the Steve McQueen of the feline world’ and is an important part of the Leverburgh fishing community – keeping rats and mice down around the pier area – but he obviously also has a taste for fresh fish.